Wahsega Valley Farm

Veggie garden structures for support

This might be boring for you non-gardeners, but I want to put in one place the garden structures we're using this year in our vegetable garden. These can be taken down and used again and again and they are super strong and support all the veggies well. 

For the tomatoes and cucumbers, we're using trellises like last year.

Cucumbers:

Tomatoes:

For the beans (I know this is a repeat), we decided a tunnel would be nice so I can walk underneath the beans as they vine up and over. Last year the structure was like the trellises above and not easy to get underneath to gather the beans that hung on the inside. 

And, to keep the deer away from the sweet potatoes, Mike got some wire mesh (like what was used for the trellises above) and some metal poles and just "sliced" the pole to hold the mesh wire. It's kinda hard to see, but the mesh sections fit into the poles and everything can be adjusted or enlarged very easily (as the plants spread out and grow). Maybe the sweet potatoes will have a chance this year!

Close-up of one corner:

And, speaking of chances, I'm doing a quadruple whammy attack on the squash bugs, vine borers and cucumber beetles this year with my zucchini.

I'm surrounding them with marigolds, spraying them with neem, dusting them with DE and check out the aluminum foil mulch. The brightness of it is supposed to confuse the vine borer moth from depositing her eggs at the root of the plant and also make it harder to get to. It looks a little crazy, but I'm willing to howl at the moon if it helps. 

Veggie Garden

I've had a couple of requests to see my veggie garden, so thought I'd post a few pictures of it from yesterday. It's just starting out so isn't too exciting yet. I've already found two squash bugs and several cucumber beetles, but I've got a plan this year and have already begun spraying with neem and dusting with DE. With my zucchini I've even mulched it with aluminum foil! Sounds weird, but some say it helps keep the vine borers from getting a foothold (the moths get confused by the shiny foil and can't get to the stalk to lay eggs as well). We'll see how it goes. I'm also planting marigolds here and there and if they don't scare off the bugs with their scent, they at least look pretty, right?

But enough jabbering for now; here are some pictures. This is shot from behind the chicken coop and shows the whole garden area. The bushy plant at the right bottom of the garden is a huge lemon balm I planted last year. Today I planted four types of mint near it 'cause I love mint tea (mixed with a little lemon balm). 

Here are about half my tomatoes - a few temporarily staked until Mike can help me build the trellis this weekend like we had last year. These were all from seed and did great. My peppers were a big fail this year though for some reason and I had to buy most of them.

Here is macho Dusty with the sun-setting light shining. He must have seen Sophie and was on his way to wrestle with her.

Here is one of the bean tunnels Mike designed for me and we put up last weekend. We're putting up two of them. It is easily taken apart to be used again and again. It will be so cool when the beans are growing all over it and it really becomes a tunnel. I love it. The beans should be poking up real soon.

Here are my baby sweet potatoes. I'm covering them every night to keep the deer away, but might devise a low fence/wire thingie that covers the whole area. I'm sure Mike will come up with a stellar idea.

And here is my garden buddy, Sophie. She's so nice and quiet and calm while Dusty is such a goober. He runs all over the place, pees where I just planted a veggie, keeps getting in my lap and cries a funny kind of wail when he gets bored and wants me to go back up to the cabin. Is that the difference between men and women? Ha! Naw, just kidding.

And, for the cat people, here are the two of them "dancing".

 
I've just about finished planting but have some weed clean-up to take care of around the edge of the garden and then can shift into maintenance... and stay on top of the pest problems. I'm going to get them this year before they unpack their little suitcases and move in.

Oh yeah, I started a little herb garden behind the cabin and will take pictures of that soon and post.

A spring veggie garden...

I've never had a spring vegetable garden before... only summer ones and one autumn one. But I'm thinking, "Hey, the bugs won't be out yet," and that floats my boat. So if Mike can till up the garden in time for me to plant next month, I'm going to give it a run for the money. 

I got my seeds yesterday from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and need to do some quick research on how to sow and grow the spring veggies since I'm not used to their likes and dislikes other than cooler weather: kale, carrots, lettuce, onions, leeks, spinach and potatoes. I'm ordering onion and leek sets and some seed potatoes to arrive next month. I like the look of the purple bunch onions, one type I'm going to give a try:

And, for my summer garden I've decided to forgo planting any squashes or sweet potatoes this year because of the deer and squash bug problem last summer. I'm going to grow cucumbers, but I think I can control the squash bugs on them alone. Last year was too much work leaning over and picking off those blasted pests for hours at a time from the squash plants. Plus, the winter squash take up so much room and Mike isn't crazy about them anyway. So the plan is to plant more green beans, okra and eggplant and about the same amount of tomatoes and peppers. And more herbs too, along with some sunflowers. It'll be fun growing different varieties though. Not sure which herbs yet, but will figure it all out very soon. I want more culinary ones and bug-repelling ones for now. Medicinal will come in time...

And, speaking of time, it's so much more difficult writing now than when I was in an office in front of a computer eight hours a day. Now I am spending my days doing what I used to dream about doing. And when one is doing, one isn't writing. It's a bit of a conundrum, but maybe I'll get into a comfortable rhythm eventually.

Drying herbs

I decided that basil would be the first herb I'd dry in my new Sedona dehydrator. That wouldn't take any time, right? Holy moly; I was wrong! It took lots of time. But now I have some home-grown organic basil and still have half the plant left to dry once it gets chilly. No point in drying all the leaves yet; I love fresh basil.

I decided to take the leaves off the stems since they were quite large and the space in-between the trays in the dehydrator is quite small.

Here are the leaves before the drying process.

And after, with Sophie checking them out. (And look! There are autumn leaves already coming down.)

The dried basil will shrink up a lot more once I shred them up a bit.

Next on the drying list is lemon verbena and then lemon grass. After that, I think I'll see what happens to tomatoes and peppers since I still have so many coming in. I've canned a bunch of tomato sauce and salsa, but think I'll try dehydrating some just to check it out. It's nice having options!

I've been super busy and will try to drop in here more often. What with the holidays right around the corner (yep, they are!), I've started making some gifts. The garden is less work, but I'm still getting okra, tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot), winter squash, green beans and small melons. We'll be checking the sweet potatoes very soon. And the chickens are giving us four eggs a day now. They are such a hoot and on Sundays Mike and I sometimes hang out in the run and watch "chicken TV". They are so entertaining and much more fun that most of what is on the television. 

I love winter squash

Take a look at these purty things:

Aren't they cool?

The two big'uns in the back are Blue Hubbard squashes, my favorite from last year. When cut up and roasted in chunks, they are heavenly. And cooked into a puree, they are super nice in pancakes and waffles or any quick-bread. I have maybe six more growing in the garden. 

The two orange squashes are new to me so I don't know how good they'll taste, but they got rave reviews at Park Seeds, where I got the seeds. They're called Sunshine Hybrid. But they weren't very prolific. I planted two and each vine produced one squash. Though... it might not have been their fault, what with the bug infestation this year.

And the others are called Bonbon Hybrid. They've produced really well, even with all the bugs. There are still quite a few in the garden. The description on Park Seed's site says they are "space saving" and only grow 8 feet! Ha! Mine have grown at least 20 feet! Which is good because they keep producing another squash every few feet and they took over the corn patch that failed miserably due to cut worms and squirrels (not the deer, who I had accused unjustly - though they are not innocent, having chowed down on my sweet potato plants at least twice). I really hope these guys are tasty, because I have a lot of 'em.

I really love growing winter squash; they can last for a long time and they look cool and taste awesomely good. The squash bugs and cucumber beetles did a real number on mine this year and I actually had to pick these a little early, but I think they're okay. I lugged them up the hill and gave them a bath to wash off the diatomaceous earth I'd sprinkled on them and they were drying in the picture.

I've started planning next year's garden and am eyeballing Southern Exposure Seed Exchange's catalog since they carry a lot of interesting seeds. I'm hoping to try some new veggies next year... onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic and shallots to name a few... along with the old stand-bys and different varieties of "regulars".

That's it for now; I have more tomatoes calling my name! :)

Pickle people

Are you a pickle person? Mike and I aren't. To me, most of the pickles I've eaten were either way too salty or extremely sweet. The only ones I ever liked at all were called Bread & Butter pickles, but even they are too sweet for me. But I had ten cucumbers I needed to do something with lest they go bad, so decided to make some pickles since I never had.

(I might add here that the word "pickle" is really a very silly sounding word and I keep hearing in my head Arlo Guthrie singing a ridiculous song... "I don't want a pickle, I just want to ride on my motorsickle"...).

I didn't have enough to bother with canning the pickles, so I opted for the "refrigerator" version. I now have three quart jars of Bread & Butter pickles. For what they are, they taste pretty dang good! But I will never eat that many pickles.

Conclusion: I love cucumbers, not pickles. I'll just grow enough to eat raw and fresh and give away what extra we have - like last year.

I did make some very nice marinara sauce though that I'm enjoying... even though my tomato picking experience has been rather frustrating this year. They are growing like gangbusters, but I've lost quite a few to worms and someone eating them outright. So I've had to pick them before they are fully ripe and vulnerable, like these I brought in from the garden last night.

I have tomatoes ripening on four windowsills in the kitchen and one benefit to ripening inside is visual - I love seeing them scattered about the room. Here are the ones I used in the sauce that ripened up fine in the windowsills.

Included are Mortgage Lifter, Pink Brandywine, Amish Paste, Roma and Better Boy. The mix turned out very well because the marinara sauce tasted superb! It was only enough for the meal I wanted to cook, which was good since it was a test run, but here is my first tomato sauce made from my own tomatoes - that I will definitely make again.

All those tomatoes = a one quart jar of sauce. That's because you toss the skin, seeds and any chunky greenish parts of any tomato. And a few of the tomatoes just weren't "beefy" enough... were mostly seeds and schlop (that I ate). I definitely need a good food mill though - to separate the skins and seeds from the tomato pulp. Although I know how to peel a tomato easily after dunking it in boiling water for a short time, etc., getting out the seeds was a pain in the behind and time consuming. I've done some research, but if anyone has a good suggestion for a good food mill, I'm all ears.

I ended up making a kindof eggplant parmesan (without the parmesan) with the sauce and these cute little eggplants from the garden:

And I'm getting ready to freeze a bunch of my peppers so I can have some in the winter! It's hard finding organic peppers around here and when you do they are so expensive. They are listed in the Dirty Dozen List of veggies to buy only if organic since they are otherwise laden with pesticides. So freezing is the way to go with my bounty of peppers.

My garden is hanging in there and producing - even after the onslaught. And guess what? The weather the past couple of days has been downright... dare I say... perfect. It's noon now and 77 degrees with a nice breeze outside. Simply perfect. This morning when I was in the garden, I could have used a sweater! In August! 

Peppers and feathers

... and a few squash too...

I thought the mix of some of my peppers were so pretty yesterday that I took their portrait. 

Included above are Jalapeno, Sahuaro, Flavorburst, Mexibell, Sweet Banana, New Mexico Big Jim and Black Hungarian.

And I've been collecting some chicken and guinea feathers that are mighty pretty too.

When I was getting ready to make a squash casserole the other night, I decided to take a picture of the squash from my garden I was using because of the two that grew as one. If you look closely, you can see the two right up front are "fused" together. They grew that way, but were full individuals when I cut them up, each having their own seeds and "completeness" if you know what I mean. Summer squash freaks of nature is what they are.

Oh, and here is the latest picture of my corn:

That's an ear ravaged by deer. All the ears were gnawed on like that!

Aaaarrgghhhhh!

Obviously, our fence is not tall enough and they are jumping over and laughing their heads off as they leap. We have plans to make it 10 feet tall for next season and that should keep them out at last! They can cause so much trouble in the garden. So, along with them, crows getting my ripening tomatoes and the 2,473 different bugs that invaded the garden this year, it's been a real challenge. Challenge I say! But as Mike said, it just teaches us what to do differently next year. And I'm already planning what seeds to order. And what supplies to have ready to keep the creatures outta there!

 

Update time

I've been way too busy to post anything lately so have some catching up to do! I am still coughing, but the worst is over, thank goodness.

I've mainly been tending the garden and chickens and having fun trying new summer squash recipes since they are so prolific. I didn't grow any last year since they've never been a favorite of mine, but they are certainly fun to grow since they're so fast and dependable... though I did lose a couple of plants due to the nasty squash bugs and cucumber beetles. No matter; I still have more than enough! So far I've made a squash and potato frittata, a stir fry and a Southern style of just letting it cook until it's melt-in-your-mouth soft.

In addition to the squash, we're eating peppers, cucumbers, pole beans and okra.

My favorite pepper this year so far is the Black Hungarian heirloom that I tried growing last year without much success; it's hot, but not too hot. They seem to like their new location much better this year.

And here are a couple of Sahuaro peppers, which are quite mild.

I'm growing three types of cucumbers this year, the Lemon and Poona Kheera heirlooms that did so well last year and a "bush" type that Mike picked up at Ace Hardware when I thought the bugs were for sure going to kill my cucumber plants. Here is a young Poona Kheera. 

I love how the cucumbers hang on with their tendrils.

Here are a few heirloom Rattlesnake pole beans... and so far (fingers crossed) no bean beetles!

And some Clemson Spineless okra...

The tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes so should be ripening up very soon. I've really missed them this summer due to our late planting. Here are some heirloom Pink Brandywines that didn't do well last year but seem very happy this year.

I have some really cute little watermelons growing. I hope they have time to mature. They're small melons, so I have my fingers crossed. How many do you see?

The winter squashes appear to be producing a lot this year! I'm letting them take over the failed corn patch.

I'm growing Blue Hubbard, Bon Bon and Kabocha. I can't wait to see how big the Blue Hubbards get; check out how big one got last year in this post. Here is a young Kabocha; it's a bit bigger than a flattened out softball here.

And look at my Fairytale eggplants coming along. They are so pretty. I've got all kinds of recipes standing by to use once they're ready. We'll be eating lots of eggplant for awhile!

And finally, two shots of the garden... 

This is shot from the other end of the garden looking up towards our ugly storage building to the right and the chicken coop towards the left. 

My deck herbs are doing well and I've been cutting and drying a lot of the basil.

In non-gardening news, we've got a wren family living in a bucket on the side of the cabin. The bucket was so precariously sitting on one of the logs of the cabin that I decided to use some packing tape to secure it; I could just see the whole nest and chicks toppling out.

The poor little wrens are always flying around and screeching at Sophie, fearful that she will climb up and bother the nest. I caught her once giving it a go, but she seems to have lost interest now.

There is more to write about, but I've got stuff to do!

Compost = good stuff

I'm sure this isn't a topic that interests most of my readers, but I love compost! Now with chickens and lots of their chicken poo added to my kitchen waste (lots of veggie and fruit discards) and grass clippings, we've come up with some nice compost for the garden. We currently have three piles going and today I was able to use the "mature" pile. The compost starts off smelling a bit like garbage when everything is fresh, but ends up smelling like fresh earth after it's done its thing. Even at its rawest state, it doesn't stink. Here are our three piles; the one to the left is the one I used on the garden today - mostly around the squash plants - and the one to the right is just getting going:

I'm still battling squash bugs, but the cucumber beetles are all but gone now. A few linger, but they're losin' the battle. I've been picking bugs off in the morning and early evening and tossing them into a jar of soapy water. I must admit to having a perverse sense of pleasure at dropping the squash bugs particularly into their soapy death. They hide when they see me coming, scuttling around to the back of the plant, but I usually grab them anyway. I have an aversion to touching their crunchy bodies so have been wearing tight, latex gloves - ha! I do experience a bit of glee when I capture them - most often two at a time in the middle of "doing it" - knowing they are on their way to squash bug heaven. I'm not a "killer", but these guys have already killed off a couple of my squash plants and are still working on the cucumbers. I admit it; I don't like 'em and don't want to share my plants with them!

Here are a few pictures from the garden this morning...

First off, here are my struggling cucumbers just starting to creep up the trellis. Poor guys have been hanging on since February and have been chewed on by cucumber beetles and squash bugs since being put into the ground. It's a miracle they're still alive - yet you can see blooms and there are tiny cucumbers appearing. You can also see the pole beans in the background, which are doing very well so far.

Here is a bee in a Fairytale eggplant flower...

And a bunch of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes...

And a cluster of Amish Paste tomatoes... 

My pepper plants haven't been eaten by anything yet and are doing well. We've had a serrano, jalapeno and Hungarian black pepper so far, but they're just getting going...

Here's a shot of the main tomato area...

And some baby okras...

A straightneck squash...

Here's the squash patch... The winter squashes are starting to vine everywhere now. You can see the silly few corn stalks in the background; I've not pulled them up and planted anything else yet, but probably will soon since there are so few.

So... the bugs haven't totally won, though I think they killed most of the corn this year (cut worms?). And I believe it was deer who chowed down on the sweet potatoes, but at least they are now coming back and might do okay. I've found four more of those huge tobacco hornworms on the tomato plants and given them to the chickens. That's always an entertaining show since the chicken who initially grabs the worm runs around all over the place saying "Look at me, look at me!" in funny chicken talk, while everyone tries to steal it from him or her. They race all over the place since the worm is way too big to eat until it's batted around a bit first, and there is always the risk of losing it to a competitor during the process. They are so much fun.

It's too hot to garden here now except very early in the morning and after the sun has gone down. I'm usually out there at 6:30 in the morning and have to be back inside by 9:30. The humidity is horrendous! And at the end of the day, after Mike gets home and we spend some quality time with the chickens, we both go down around 8:30 for me to do some more bug hunting and just make sure all is well. Even with all the challenges this year so far, I'm lovin' it.

Garden frustration

From a distance, my garden looks kinda peaceful and happy.

But it's driving me crazy and is fraught with "issues". The main source of my frustration is that I couldn't plant until the middle of June! The fence hadn't been fixed and the garden itself needed to be divided into raised beds. Mike didn't have time and I didn't have the upper body strength, so it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I could put my poor seedlings into the ground. These are seedlings that were started in February! I was surprised they did as well as they did. I lost only a couple!

Planting in June in the South is riddled with problems, including...

1. It was hot as Hades and not fun. Planting in April is a comfortable, exciting and fun experience... being one with nature and all y'know... the promise of a garden bursting forth with food, etc. etc...  

2. The bugs have already arrived. Not only did they fly around my head constantly and into my ears and eyes, they bit me all over and I itched for days. New bugs that weren't around last year took residence on my cucumber seedlings - who'd done so well for so long - and almost killed them. Cucumber Beetles they were... tiny creatures - about 1/4", but deadly to cucumbers and squashes as well - which were also under attack.

I started hand picking them off and spraying the plants with a neem mix and they seem to be gone now... at least for the time being. In the early spring, there are very few bugs out and about yet.

3. The growing season is greatly reduced. I should be eating tomatoes and peppers and corn by now. My veggies are just starting to kick into gear. 

4. Some plants just prefer starting off in cooler, less humid weather. And I don't blame them!

*****

Ah well, it is what it is and all I can do now is take care of it the best I can and hope that what's growing will flourish. I took a few pictures of my woebegone garden this morning...

Here are the poor cucumbers. They are finally starting to put out more leaves since I've booted the beetles. They've been through so much I'm surprised they're doing this well.

Here are the same kind of cucumbers on my deck from the same group of transplants started in February. They weren't bothered by beetles and look how much bigger they are. The one on the left is a Lemon cucumber and one of the right is a Poona Kheera - both of which I grew last year and were so good and prolific.

My tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing well, even though they're getting a late start. We decided to trellis the tomatoes this year since we had the material lying about and I wanted something that wouldn't fall over like the worthless supports I had last year. The trellis is working out very well and we can add another section to it when the tomatoes get taller. All these tomatoes were from seed.

My favorite tomato so far this year is the Mortgage Lifter. I don't know what it tastes like yet, but it sure grows well. The one I have in a pot in the backyard is already taller than I am - and I'm 5'10"! I can't wait to see how tall the ones in the garden will grow.

My corn is a dismal failure. Last year the heirloom type I planted did great so I don't know what the deal is this year. I tried a hybrid from a reputable company, but only a few came up. Take a look at the sad corn patch. The 4 rows to the left were planted with the new corn. You can see a few green stalks. Sad, huh? The three rows on the right were just planted with the heirloom corn I grew last year. I'm probably just going to pull the ones on the left out and use the spot for the winter squash vine takeover that I know is looming. There just isn't enough corn to get pollinated.

And my poor sweet potatoes were eaten night before last by some lucky soul. The battery on the electric fence had just died and not yet been replaced and I guess the guilty party was on the sidelines waiting to seize the day. It wasn't a deer because there were no tracks. Probably waskaly wabbits. They stripped about a third of the vines.

My okra is doing well though. Hey, I love okra.

And so are my pole beans, which are ready to be given a trellis this weekend to crawl up.

Out of twelve cantaloupes planted, two have come up, and out of the same amount of watermelons planted, only three have come up. I don't have a clue why. I do have a couple of renegade Moon and Star watermelons that came up in the old compost spot. I grew them last year and they did well, so I'm giving 'em free run since they seem very healthy and want to be there.

The summer and winter squashes are now doing well, but it was touch and go for awhile with the cucumber beetles. And the eggplants are fine too.

It's certainly not been an easy start at all with the garden this year! Next year I will plant early or I won't plant at all!

My deck plants are doing well though... house plants, flowers and a few herbs. 

I decided to plant some common kitchen herbs on the deck instead of the garden since they're so much closer when I'm cooking, and they're doing great.

The hens & chicks aren't herbs, of course, but made it into the picture. The mint looks kinda raggedy but it's because I keep cutting it back to use when I brew tea. And I've already cut the basil back a couple of times just to dry some and keep it full and growing. I'm hoping the bay will do well; it did fine inside all winter and is now looking quite happy with new growth. I also have a huge rosemary plant and two different kind of thyme in our backyard near the potted tomatoes and peppers. And a lemongrass down in the garden. One day I hope to have a permanent herb garden, but it's just not meant to be right now.

So that's my garden and my frustration. In the long-run it'll be fine I'm quite sure, and if it isn't, I'll just go hang out with the chickens because they make me laugh no matter what.